With almost 37 percent of the total votes cast, Terrence Ruane racked up a victory in the Nov. 4 special Bayonne City Council election to fill the unexpired term of Anthony Chiappone, who resigned the at-large seat last April.
Ruane, who was appointed to fill the seat last May after a dispute between Mayor Mark Smith and members of the council, said he was satisfied with the result since he will hold the seat until July 1, 2010 as a result of the vote.
“I’m an elected official now,” he said. “Prior to this, I was just an appointed official. I’m bolstered by the results.”
Leonard Kantor, who has run for numerous municipal offices over the last few decades, came in second with about 23 percent of the vote, and Debra Noble came in third with almost 19 percent of the vote.
“Prior to this, I was just an appointed official. I’m bolstered by the results.” – Terrence Ruane
________
“I’m the kind of guy that is out there with the people trying to learn everything I possibly can. I only know one way to work and that’s hard,” Ruane said.
Ruane said his immediate concerns over the next few months are to help deal with the municipal budget and the downsizing and reorganization of city government.
“Obviously, taxes are our big issue and how to stabilize them,” he said. “I’m not going to come out and tell anybody that we’re going to reduce their taxes. This is the most expensive state in the country. I’m going to try. I’m prepared to make some tough decisions that have to be made. I’ve done it before in my other career and I’ll be able to do it in this career, as well.”
He called some of the promises made by his opponents “short sighted.”
“You have to be inside and look around, poke into places to find out the facts before coming up with some ideas,” he said. “That’s what I do. I fact-find, and then make an intelligent decision.”
He said stabilizing taxes while keeping up quality of life for the residents of Bayonne are two of the challenges he will have to deal with, as well as looking into environmental issues in the town that have to be addressed.
While Ruane remained upbeat about the results, some political observers claim that the results were troubling for Ruane and others on a possible ticket next May because it shows significant anti-incumbent sentiments in the voting public.
Noble was particularly energized by the vote, saying that more people voted against Ruane than for him, and that she will modify her campaign slightly when she runs again for City Council in the May elections.
“This shows that people are not blindly following power,” she said, noting that she was surprised and delighted at how well she did.
“We did this campaign on a shoestring budget,” she said. “We had no professional planner or guidance, just some of my friends.”
She called this election “a learning experience,” especially what she saw on Election Day itself. She said that after taking some time off, she would review what they learned, what her campaign had done right, and what the campaign might do differently.
“I don’t think we did anything wrong, but there might be things we might want to do differently next time,” she said.
Ruane led council voting with 3,198, followed by Leonard Kantor with 2,045, Nobel with 1,635, Ramon Veloz with 1,173, Stan Marko with 542, and John R. Cupo with 525.
Kantor and Cupo could not be reached for comment. Marko said he would respond later.
Corzine barely won Bayonne
Bayonne voters only marginally voted for Gov. Jon Corzine, who received 7,262 votes compared to Republican Chris Christie at 5,301, and Christopher Daggett at 657.
Christie actually beat Corzine in six election districts, and Corzine only marginally won in many others by narrow margins.
Don DeLeo, incumbent surrogate judge, overwhelmingly defeated challenger Agha Kahn in Bayonne by 6,231 to 2,780.
Bayonne voters gave weak support for a $400 million state Green Acres bond question on the ballot, 3,547 to 2,902.
Chiappone reelected despite charges against him
Incumbent state Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone and his Democratic running mate Charles Mainor beat four challengers. Chiappone received 5,700 votes in Bayonne; Mainor, 5,322; Kim Asbury, 3,517; Marie Day, 3,425; Neil Scott, 642; and Omar Dyer, 169.
Chiappone said he felt vindicated by the vote since he has faced state corruption charges going into the election and has been asked to resign and not run for the seat.
“The people are putting their faith in me,” he said during a telephone interview. “There was no indication that the public was upset with me. When I campaigned, people were cordial and supportive.”
Chiappone said his victory came despite his being left out of Democratic campaign advertisements.
“It is clear that opposition from Mayor Mark Smith didn’t carry any weight,” he said. “Now it’s a matter of getting the case out of the way, and proving my innocence. They wanted me to resign, and get off the ballot, and I didn’t do either.”
He said he is hoping to get put back on to Assembly committees, and will shortly be seeking to speak with the Assembly speaker.
Although this will be the first time Chiappone has served in the Assembly while a Republican is the sitting as the governor, he does not see vast problems.
“There are going to have to be compromises made all around and the involvement of both parties,” he said. “A number of people who voted for me also voted for Christie.”
He said his principle concern will be turning around the economy and seeking to make New Jersey more business friendly.